Suitable airfields on the Normandy and Channel maps

[Mr_sukebe]

Quick question.  
I”m guessing that the Mossie will need a fairly lengthy runway when loaded.  Apart from Manston, can any of the English runways on the two WW2 maps accommodate the Mossie?

[rkk01]

Banff runways were 1280m and 1800m

[grafspee]

If we get merlin 25 in DCs mosquitos, then max take off power setting is 18lbs at 3000rpm and this shoots out almost 1500hp, and you have 2 engines, so almost 3000hp, i thin it wont need airfields longer then P-47 need.

If we get merlin 23  it is limited t o14lbs which still provide a lot of power for take off.

Which is a lot comparing to P-47 which weights about the same.

Edited March 24, 2021 by grafspee

[Bozon]

While I don’t know the exact minimal takeoff distance, it should be shorter than a P-47s as @grafspee said. The bomb load is only 2000 lbs and it has a lot of excess power from the 2 engines.

More than runway length, mosquitoes needed an open area after the runway so they could accelerate to minimal one-engine speed without climbing much. 
 

Mosquitoes were designed to operate from rough fields and had very sturdy undercarriage with quite massive main wheels. Numerous squadrons of TAF (so taking off with bombs) operated from forward continental fields after the Normandy landings. I don’t think they had any issues with the length of the runways.

[Mogster]

2 hours ago, Bozon said:

While I don’t know the exact minimal takeoff distance, it should be shorter than a P-47s as @grafspee said. The bomb load is only 2000 lbs and it has a lot of excess power from the 2 engines.

More than runway length, mosquitoes needed an open area after the runway so they could accelerate to minimal one-engine speed without climbing much. 
 

Mosquitoes were designed to operate from rough fields and had very sturdy undercarriage with quite massive main wheels. Numerous squadrons of TAF (so taking off with bombs) operated from forward continental fields after the Normandy landings. I don’t think they had any issues with the length of the runways.

 

As you say I don’t think getting off the ground in the sim will be a problem. You can always leave some gas behind. Compared to modern aircraft all of these planes are short/rough field STOL performers.
 

With a truly frightening VMCA (they wouldn’t have called it that then...) of 200mph I’d imagine you’d want as much free space in front of the airfield as possible. A lot of crews must have lost their lives to takeoff engine failures. Gear retraction was very very slow also, 30 secs on 2 engines and 50 secs on one...

[Holbeach]

Take off at max weight, 14 lb. over 50 ft. is 795 yards.

..

[DD_Fenrir]

Channel Map

 

Bases able to support the Mossie...

 

Well there are two airfields that actually hosted Mosquitos that should be on the DCS map... but aren't.

 

1. Gravesend:

 

140 Wing (of Amiens prison Raid notoriety) and their FB.VIs were based here from April of 1944.

 

 

 

2. West Malling:

 

Night fighter Mosquitos of varying marks (NF.XII, NF.XIII, NF.XVII, NF.XIX, NF.XX & NF.36) and various units were based here during the late war period.

 

For bases you could actually safely get one on and off the ground in DCS? A stated previously, Manston is a cert (if you can't land and take-off in a Mossie there then the problems not with the airfield or the airframe...  ), the upcoming Biggin Hill should be fine too, as well as the ALGs of High Halden and Headcorn (these being P-47 bases). You might struggle at Lympne, Detling or Hawkinge (or the upcoming Eastchurch) but proof of the pudding.... and a couple of the big French fields should easily support Mossie ops.

 

 

Normandy Map:

 

Again, there are no prototypically accurate bases on the DCS map to imitate actual Mosquito FB.VI ops, though there should be RAF Thorney Island:

 

 

This airfield hosted 140 Wing (them again!) from June of 1944. 

 

No bases on the French side of the DCS map actually hosted any fighter bomber Mossies; the airfields that they moved to in the late autumn being much too far east and beyond the scope of the DCS map.

 

IIRC Tangmere hosted some Night Fighter units, and I think some of these were NF Mossie sqaudrons. 

 

Whilst Tangmere is represented on the DCS map, it's a pretty poor reflection of the real airfield. That said, it certainly looks suitable for Mossie ops.

 

Similarly Ford (though whether this airfield saw any Mossies based there I am as yet unsure).

 

Funtingdon and Needs Oar Point on the English side should also be able support the operation of Mosquitos as the runways look long enough.

 

On the French side, some of the British ALGs might struggle, some of the American one's less so, but the larger pre-existing fields (Evreux, Caen & Maupertus) would I suspect comfortably host a Mossie.

Edited April 8, 2021 by DD_Fenrir

[Tengu]

@DD_Fenrir, According to 418 Squadron | Royal Canadian Air Force Association (rcafassociation.ca), RCAF 418 was at RAF Ford in Sussex from Mar-43 to Apr-44.  The same page claims 418 operated the Mosquito Mk2 from Mar-43 to Nov-44.  The FB Mk VI after that.

 

Reading "Terror in the Starboard Seat" by F/O David McIntosh now on another poster's recommendations.  In Chapter 5, McIntosh mentions the Poles flying Mossies out of Ford at the same time as 418. 

 

McIntosh's last OTU training flight was two days before D-Day.  He describes stopping at the pub enroute back to 418 and finding (for once) that it wasn't overrun with service members.  (They had all had their leave cancelled or were landing on Normandy.)  By this date, the squadron had moved to RAF Holmsley South.